


The First Adventure

by RomanaOnCaprica



Series: The Fourteen Doctors [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Gen, Multi-Doctor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-04
Updated: 2014-02-11
Packaged: 2018-01-11 04:19:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1168602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RomanaOnCaprica/pseuds/RomanaOnCaprica
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cassidy was halfway through part 3 of <em>Remembrance of the Daleks</em> when the doorbell rang.</p><p>"Don't you remember me?" the mystery man exclaimed, a sparkle in his eye.<br/>"Uhh...no?" clearly this man was a nutter. She wanted the close the door, but somehow he reminded her of someone.<br/>"It's me, it's the Doctor!" he looked excited, as if he was waiting for a positive reaction. Cassidy frowned.<br/>“When you say Doctor-“<br/>“The Doctor!” he interrupted, almost frustrated. “The Doctor with the blue box that goes all over time and space!”</p><p>What if our beloved TV show and the Doctor existed in the same universe? What if everything we watched on <i>Doctor Who</i> was <i>real</i>? This one’s for the fangirl/fanboy inside all of us. Enjoy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: January 2013

**Author's Note:**

> This is a little bit on the bizarre side, all I ask is that you give it a try and keep an open mind. I will be working through it slowly, but I'm determined to complete it.
> 
> Please note that this story is meant to have a bit of a satirical feel to it - at the end of the day it's silly and fun! It's meant to have a lot of references, be a little bit unoriginal and have the occasional small plothole. It's a celebration of our show!

Cassidy paused her DVD and stumbled over to the air-conditioning control, frustrated that she couldn’t escape the unbearable summer heat. Why couldn’t she finish watching _Remembrance of the Daleks_ in comfort instead of pools of sweat? She wished she could be in a nice cool place where she could wander around in a bomber jacket like Ace’s. She lived in the wrong country.

After setting the air-con to the lowest temperature possible, she sat down again to resume the much loved Slyvester McCoy story when the doorbell rang. Who could that be? She wasn't expecting anyone. She opened the door, trying not to let the cool air she’d tried to collect escape into sticky afternoon heat. She was expecting to see a mailman, or even a neighbour, but instead there was who she could swear she’d never seen before in her life. He looked about in his forties, with dark hair and a neat beard. He was dressed like he was off to a gathering of a mad professors, with a maroon jacket, black pants and a patterned cravat. He reminded her of Antony Ainley dressed in some sort of bizzare spin on the Third Doctor's costume.

“Cassidy!” the man exclaimed, happy to see her. She gripped her hand on the doorknob, slightly disturbed.  
“How do you know my name?” she frowned, confused.  
"Don't you remember me?" he had a sparkle in his eye.  
"Uhh...no?" clearly this man was a nutter. She wanted the close the door, but somehow he reminded her of someone.  
"It's me, it's the Doctor!" he looked excited, as if he was waiting for a positive reaction. Cassidy frowned.  
“When you say Doctor-“  
“The Doctor!” he interrupted, almost frustrated. “The Doctor with the blue box that goes all over time and space!”

Cassidy shook her head. This was ridiculous. A prank, set up by one of her many friends who playfully laughed at her love for the frankly fantastic TV show. She decided she’d play along, just to try and throw him off.  
"No, I know the Doctor,” she said, trying to act disappointed. “I know all of your faces and that is not one of them." The man took a quick glance at his watch and rolled his eyes.  
"Must have gotten the timing a bit out, sorry!" he smiled and turned to run off.  
"Doctor, wait!" she called out, trying to chasing him up the driveway. He was not getting away that easily. He stopped and turned to look at her.  
"All in good time, Cas. All in good time."  
"But-" Cassidy tried to stop him, but he put his finger to her lips before turning and walking away.


	2. Chapter One: January 2014

Cassidy sat down with her Remembrance of the Daleks DVD. She remembered what happened the last time she did this a whole year ago – the mysterious “Doctor” had knocked on her door. While she didn’t like being tricked, she had to admit it wasn’t a bad prank, and she wished she knew who’d been responsible for it. Nobody had ever come forward – funny, that.

She hadn’t gotten past the DVD menu when she heard a knock on the door. She laughed, joking to herself that it was the “Doctor man” again. She opened the door, expecting the mailman or even one of the neighbours.

But it was the man she’d met a year earlier. And standing next to him was the First Doctor.

"Hello," the mysterious man said before Cassidy could get a word in, "we really need to speak to you sister. The universe is at stake". Cassidy laughed. This was one hell of a prank.   
“You seem awfully calm if the world is indeed in danger,” she said, trying not to lose it in a fit of giggles. The man frowned.   
“Is something funny?” He seemed irritated. Cassidy continued laughing. She knew her fellow Whovians were crazy, but this was taking things to a whole new level.  
“I have to say,” she said, looking at the ‘First Doctor’. “You did a really good job finding a William Hartnell look-alike.” She stopping giggling when she took a closer look at him. “In fact,” she stared at the old man. “It’s uncanny”. She took a step back, almost frightened by what she was seeing. The old man looked irritated.  
“My dear child,” he said. “Are you going to let the man speak or spend all day talking nonsense?” Cassidy gasped. His voice was exactly like the one she’d come to love since she’d first heard it in “An Unearthly Child”. This wasn’t a look-alike. This was the first Doctor. The mystery man cleared his throat.

“So,” he said adjusting his jacket slightly. “Is your sister home or not?” He tried to look inside the house, a slight look of anxiety growing on his face. Cassidy blocked the door.  
"Are you sure I can't help?" she asked. She still had no idea who these guys were or what they were up to.  
"No, we really need your sister,” he said adamantly.  
"Why?" she folded her arms.  
"I told you,’ he insisted "I need her to save the universe".  
"Well, all you have is me, so deal with it,” now it was her turn to be irritated. Of course the Doctors on her doorstep needed her ditsy, non-Whovian sister. “Besides, how am I even supposed to know who you are?"  
"Just listen to him, child," the First Doctor said, aggravated. Cassidy was taken aback by the authority in his voice - she suddenly felt like a child being scolded by a teacher, and an inclination to do what he said rose in her.  
“Fine,” she paused for a moment, thinking about what she was going to do next. “But you need to give me a reason to trust you.”  
“We can do that” the mystery man said, nodding.   
“And I want to see your TARDIS.”  
The two men threw themselves a look.

 

“So, you’re trying to tell me that you’re both the Doctor?” Cassidy was still standing on the doorstep, trying to wrap her head around the situation. The mystery man was trying to explain the situation to her, but so far she wasn’t buying it.  
“Yes,” he said firmly.   
“But I’ve watched the episodes where you guys meet. Isn’t it really bad? Like paradoxes and all that?” Cassidy wasn’t sure what to think at this stage, so she decided to keep playing along until she worked out their game.   
“Yes, which is why we need your sister,” the mystery Doctor was getting frustrated. Cassidy looked over at the First Doctor, who didn’t exactly seem pleased that he wasn’t the one doing the talking. She had to admit, they knew their stuff. She wanted to believe that they were just two guys really keen on roleplay, but she couldn’t dispute that this was William Hartnell standing before her.  
“Okay, why do you need her? Can’t you just use me or anyone?” this was the question she’d been itching to get to.  
“There’s aliens all over the universe trying to make different versions of us meet in order to bring chaos to the universe. Your sister is currently working for a branch of them, who are posing as a gas company in order to firmly establish themselves on the Earth – our favourite planet.” He looked at her, dead serious. Cassidy laughed.  
“What, like H C Clements and Bubbleshock?” she said between the giggles. This was beyond ridiculous.   
“Bubble what?” the First Doctor sputtered.   
“Quiet, you” the mystery Doctor said. “Yes, I suppose. Anyway, we need a way in.”  
“What, did the Daleks blast your psychic paper?” she retorted sarcastically. She still didn’t completely buy their story.   
“Let’s just say it was…err…stolen by a certain Captain.”  
“I get it, kettle and string.” She moved on to the next order of business, keen to get to the bottom of what she was doing here. “But hundreds of people work for my sister’s company, why her?”  
“No reason.”  
“That’s what you told Amy Pond,” she retorted quickly, folding her arms. He looked at her, getting increasingly frustrated.   
“Look, I told you I needed you to trust me.” He looked into her eyes and pulled a device out of his pocket. It looked a little different, but Cassidy had no doubt it was a sonic screwdriver.  
“I take it you know what this is.” Cassidy nodded. “Go on, it’s on the right setting.” He nodded his head toward a car parked in the street. She cautiously took it from him, positive it was just some role-playing toy. Keen to prove herself right, she carefully raised her arm and pointed the device at the vehicle before pressing the button. The lights and car alarm went wild, and she stared in sheer amazement. Now this was getting scary. What if…? 

“Show me your TARDIS,” she said, looking back at the mystery Doctor. “Then we can talk.”  
“It’s not that simple.” He paused, looking at her sheepishly. “We don’t have a TARDIS.”  
“You mean to tell me there’s two of you and don’t have a TARDIS?!” Cassidy sputtered. He nodded sheepishly. “How do you expect me to believe you if you don’t even have a TARDIS?!” Now she didn’t know what to think. She wanted to believe that they really were Doctors, but how was that possible? The mystery Doctor leaned over and put his hands on her shoulders.  
“Cassidy,” he said, looking into her eyes in a truly Doctor-y way. “When you’ve eliminated the impossible-  
“-whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth,” she finished. She stared back at him. Two Doctors on her doorstep was certainly improbable, but nobody said it was completely impossible…  
“Fine, I’ll drive you to my sister’s work,” she finally said. “Its forty-five minutes away, which gives you two plenty of time to explain everything.” She was taking a risk, but she just couldn’t let this pass.   
“But-“ the mystery Doctor tried to interrupt.  
“Including exactly why you’ve been on TV for 50 years, and yet William Hartnell is standing in front of me.”  
“Why do you insist on calling me that?” The irritated First Doctor looked at her exactly the way he used to look at his companions.


	3. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit absurd, I just needed to get the basic explanation out there so I could get on with the story. I did warn you this was on the bizarre side, but hey, it's no weirder than real person fiction ;)

“So you’re trying to tell me that my favourite TV show is actually a documentary disguised as a drama?” Cassidy gripped the steering wheel, still with absolutely no idea what was going on. They were sitting at what must have been the seventh red traffic light, giving the mystery Doctor plenty of time to attempt to explain himself. At this point she found herself returning to the theory that she’d been dragged into some ridiculously elaborate practical joke.  
“In a way, yes,” the Mystery Doctor replied. Cassidy could see he was trying to get comfortable in the small back seat of her car. She’d allowed William Hartnell to sit in the front - the man did have a cane, after all.  
“But the world ends every other year on your show. Canary Warf, planets in the sky, all that stuff with UNIT in the seventies…” she couldn’t believe what was coming out of her mouth. It was as if she believed this rubbish.  
“The eighties, actually. It was meant to be the eighties.” In the rear-vision mirror Cassidy saw him straighten his cravat, almost looking proud of himself. “I always told the Broadcasters they had to watch their retroactive continuity.” Out of the corner of her eye she saw the First Doctor mumble something before shifting in his seat. She almost thought she’d heard him say “I’ll remember that” in a sarcastic tone.

The light finally turned green and Cassidy let her foot off the brake.  
“It’s all a bit confusing, really,” the Doctor continued. “I’m real. My history is real. My TARDIS is real. Most of what you see on camera is real.” He sat back in his seat. “I’ll let my counterpart over here explain the rest.”  
The First Doctor grumbled and rolled his eyes. She saw him shoot the mystery Doctor a look.  
“I was a traveller, a lost wanderer of the fourth dimension,” he finally said, moving around in his seat. “On Gallifrey I devised a plan - I was going to acquire a TARDIS and run away to a planet I’d carefully selected. I’d settle down and have a simpler life, freed from the complex politics of the Time Lords. But-“  
“-but you stole a faulty TARDIS,” Cassidy finished.  
“Don’t interrupt me!” he looked irritated for a moment, but his face softened again and he continued the story. “I started exploring wherever the silly old ship would take me, trying to find a place to call home, but at no avail. Eventually my scanner developed a fault, and I happened upon an advanced planet that I thought could assist me – I’d heard they were known throughout the galaxy as “the Broadcasters”, but I knew nothing more about them. I approached them and they were extremely fascinated by my story. They informed me that they specialised in delivering broadcasts of all different media across time and space, and offered me my own television show.” He straightened up in his seat and cleared his throat. “I was extremely forlorn, and had begun to give up hope of ever finding a decent place to settle down, so I accepted the offer. They determined that Earth in 1960s was the best time and place to broadcast my travels, and they gave me one of their people – Anthea, her name was – to become my companion, Susan. After that we were free to do as we pleased, go wherever we wanted and pick up whoever stumbled into the ship.” He looked almost happy as he recovered memory.  
“And the whole time you were being recorded by this alien race, who were then compiling your life into episodes and broadcasting them on TV?”  
“Of course, child. Don’t ask silly questions!”  
“That is the single most ridiculous thing I have ever heard!” she blurted out. “Honestly, I can’t go into the amount of cheese that contained. It sounded like the fanfiction of an overexcited eight-year old.”  
“It is the truth,” he retorted in his usual grumpy tone. “And whether or not you choose to believe it none of my concern.” Cassidy still didn’t know what to think. This seemed like one of her twisted dreams. Was it a dream? It was certainly first one where she’d questioned the reality of the situation. She gently braked and stopped at yet another red light, glad they were only halfway there – she still had a lot she wanted to iron out.

“So, assuming that story of yours is true – which, by the way, I don’t believe it is for even one second – how do you explain the world ending on your TV show?”  
The Mystery Doctor cleared his throat. “They needed a way to get human viewers to relate to us, so some of the stories were – are – adapted and changed. The Broadcasters have cutting edge editing technology, they can practically create episodes out of nothing. ‘Planets in the sky’ wasn’t on Earth at all, but another world all together; they simply made it look like it was happening to humans. In reality we try to avoid periods when Doctor Who was on TV, sometimes if you put the right Doctor in the right time people do recognise us.” Cassidy shook her head. Ridiculous. Why would a race like “the Broadcasters” even exist?  
“So the Daleks and everything…they’re real?”  
“Yes. The facts of the stories aren’t changed unless they need to be. The names of characters are modified, especially in the historical stories.”  
“That’s bloody complicated,” Cassidy remarked.  
“It’s all child’s play to them. My show is just one of thousands.”  
“But I don’t get it. I won’t even get into why they do it, what I want to know is why you would do it? What’s in it for you?” Cassidy shifted in her seat, uncomfortable with the fact that she was now starting to believe them. What people would try to convince her stories and circumstances so absurdly complex were true?  
“I needed a purpose, at first,” he replied, as if it was obvious. “Then it just became fun. I’m still the Doctor you see on TV. I still do everything for the same reasons as him. That’s still me. And it makes me happy that my adventures can bring happiness and, in some cases, purpose to others.” Cassidy couldn’t help but smile. As stupid as this whole thing was, he did sound an awful lot like the Doctor. 

They turned the corner, and she realised they were getting close to their destination. She took a deep breath, unsure if she was about to do the right thing.  
“Look, I’m going to be frank with you guys,” she said slightly uncomfortably, keeping her eyes glued to the road. “I have no idea who you are and I think you’re completely insane. I want to believe you’re both the Doctor, and maybe part of me does. But I’m going to help you either way because I like you, and you’re a clever pair. Just know that it will always be on my terms.” She pulled into a parking bay in the middle of the city and turned to look at them. They nodded sincerely, in a way someone who genuinely believed their story would. She took a deep breath. She now was convinced they were telling the truth, she just couldn’t bring herself to admit it.


End file.
